If you or someone you love falls ill at the weekend, it can be a worrying time.

It’s can also be difficult to know what to do.

Do you go to hospital? Which number should you call – 999 or 111?

In Yeovil patients were used to the flexibility of visiting a walk-in GP clinic above Boots in Middle Street in recent years but this service stopped on September 1 this year – to the anger of many locals who branded the decision “crazy”.

At the time the hospital said the service at Boots had become "too convenient" and had been misused by some.

But since the September closure Somerset Live understands there has been some confusion about what patients who used to use the service at Boots should do now.

Watch our guide to getting urgent care in the video at the top of this article.

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At Yeovil Hospital earlier this month Somerset Live spoke to Wendy Grey, head of quality and transformation for symphony healthcare services, who is overseeing a new out of hours service for people who fall ill at the weekend.

She explained the crucial thing about this new service is that patients must phone 111.

“If somebody does feel that they need to see somebody urgently they can phone NHS 111 and we can get them an appointment with a nurse practitioner or service operator at Yeovil Hospital”, she said. “It's there so people don’t have to wait until Monday if they urgently need to see somebody.”

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Yeovil Hospital in the news

Wendy said: “Yes. We were the practice who provided that service and when that ceased then the contract expired, we decided to move the service to Yeovil Hospital but still be able to provide appointments at the weekend because it’s important.

“If you ring 111 they’ll give you some questions and then if you need an urgent appointment, they’ll book you an appointment to come and see us at the urgent care service.”

To face up to the challenges of winter, Yeovil Hospital has been trying to explain the different between urgent health situations and emergencies.

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She said: “The kind of thing we’d want to see at the urgent care service are things like if you’ve got a chest infection, or you have asthma and you feel it’s been exacerbated, or if you’re not feeling as well and you know you can’t wait for your own GP to open on Monday morning.

“We will see those kinds of things. What we don’t want to see is somebody who has got a very minor complaint that actually could wait for a Monday or a Tuesday in their own GP surgery.

“So it is for you to think ‘if my doctors was open, I would need to be seen today’ – then we can see you on a Saturday or Sunday. But it’s not really for routine stuff that can wait for four or five days.”

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Wendy urged people to use the new urgent care service if they need to but stressed the service was for patients in Somerset only.

She added: “We’ve got some really qualified, experienced nurse practitioners who are able to see you and are able to prescribe, so if you do need a course of antibiotics then they can help with that. We’re really pleased to see people and treat people of Somerset.”

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The latest Yeovil area news

What's your view on this story? Have you got another local story? Email liam.trim@westgaz.co.uk with your stories and reactions.

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